Description
This 2013 50 cent holiday-themed lenticular coin has a diameter of 35 millimeters and a weight of 12.61 grams. The two-image design creates a 3D effect as the coin is tilted from side to side, allowing the viewer a glimpse of Santa unloading gifts in a cosy holiday parlour. Mintage is 25,000 coins.
The Design:
The design features two vibrantly coloured images. In the first image, Santa has just arrived. At the center of the image, he kneels on one knee, his package-filled red bag slung over his left shoulder. He is dressed in his traditional holiday garb: red velvet suit and cap lined in white fur, black boots, black gold-buckled belt. His bespectacled eyes peek out from behind a voluminous snowy beard. With his white-gloved right hand, he raises his index finger before his mouth in the universal “hushing” gesture: quietly, now, don’t wake the sleeping children! He kneels at the foot of a glowing holiday tree festooned with gold and red glass decorations. In the background is an old-fashioned fireplace. On the mantle, two little empty red and white holiday stockings hang. Two decorative nutcracker soldiers stand guard at the foot of the fireplace. Once the coin is tilted, a second image shows that Santa’s unloading procedure is well underway. Against the background details of the first image (except now green gift boxes peek out from the stuffed stockings on the mantle), Santa stands before his bag, removing gifts. A large pile of ribboned gift boxes now stands before him, in the lower left-hand corner of the scene. A teddy bear sits atop the pile of gifts now revealed inside Santa’s bag. The images switch when the coin is tipped; a feature rendered using lenticular technology.
